


The Debate Team

by jojothebookworm



Category: Legacies (TV 2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Normal High School, Angst, Candy Jar but if I followed my own plot, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-01
Updated: 2019-07-09
Packaged: 2020-05-29 16:11:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19403845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jojothebookworm/pseuds/jojothebookworm
Summary: Josie Saltzman is the rich, headmaster's daughter who's going to the elite Salvatore Boarding School, and for once she tries to do something for herself: join the debate team. But when she is paired with Penelope Park, a girl with a scholarship to keep, as her debate partner, things start to take a turn for the worse. Maybe she should've just listened to Lizzie and stay off the debate team.





	1. I'm Joining the Debate Team

Another day of high school was upon us and I was nervous. Like nervous to the point where I couldn't look my twin sister, Lizzie, in the eye. And of course, she didn't notice because she was too busy talking to Hope who was sitting right across from her. I, on the other hand, was sitting right next to Lizzie, sipping on my hot tea as quiet as a mouse and eating a bowl of cereal. Well, I wasn't really eating it. It was more like I was just scraping the spoon down at the bottom of the bowl of milk, trying to make a hole deep enough to fall into so I could hide from all my problems. 

I have to tell Lizzie something today that I know she isn't going to like. In fact, I know she's going to tell me that what I was attempting to do would be detrimental to our well beings (yes... hers and mine) and that I should just forgo doing it at all. You see, Lizzie is a tall, blonde force of nature, and when I tell her my  _ exciting _ news I'm going to be a gigantic, brown-haired statue standing in her way. But I need to do this thing for both of our well beings... at least that's what my school-appointed therapist says. 

I'm so trapped in my thoughts, that I don't realize the room has gone silent. I look up to see Lizzie and the rest of the table staring up at me. I must have missed something,  _ great _ !

"Ummm, I'm sorry I didn't hear that. What did you say?" I tell Lizzie with a sorry expression on my face.

"I asked you what your plans are for today," she replied.

"Oh nothing much. Just same old same old," I lie. I know today will be different from the rest. I just don't have the courage to say something.

"Are you okay, Josie?" Hope asks. "You've been quiet all morning."

"Yeah, no. I'm fine."  _ I'm great in fact. Nothing's going on. I'm just keeping a huge secret from Lizzie and she wouldn't have noticed had you kept your mouth shut. _ "I just have a quiz in biochem today, and I'm pretty nervous about it," I say strained through my teeth, hoping Hope gets the message. She apparently does as she stops questioning me, even though she knows that we don't have a biochem test this morning, and excuses herself from the table, leaving just me and Lizzie to talk.

Lizzie then starts to talk about the cute new guy that she spots two table across from us and I let out a sigh of relief. As Lizzie continues to ramble on, I question if now is the right time to tell her. Or should I wait until classes are done so I can just try to get away with it? I don't know, but the longer I wait, the more I'm going to have to deal with my sweaty palms and my quickened heartbeat, so I decide to get it over with.

"Lizzie, I have something to tell you," I blurt out. And then her blue, piercing eyes are on me again. "I'mjoiningthedebateteam," I say quickly before I lose my courage.

"Come again?" she says.

"I'm joining the debate team," I say. Then I quickly pick up my dishes and speed walk towards the kitchen before she can get a word in.

"You're joining what!" I hear her shout from the distance.

* * *

A few classes pass, and I'm in the hallway about to turn a corner on the way to my next class when I spot Lizzie from the corner of my eye. Thankfully, she can't see me because I'm  _ so stealth _ . Also, she's talking to that new guy, Rafael and is obviously already enamored with him.  _ I guess I'm taking the long way around to get to class _ . And on the heels of making a U-turn, I bump into a small, angry girl with a stare that could kill.

"Sorry. I didn't see you there," I say quickly before she casts some sort of spell and turns me into ashes.

"Of course you didn't," she responds and then pushes past me.

"Hey! What was that about?" But my response is pointless as usual, as she's all the way down the hall before I can even finish my sentence. Today is just a bad day for me, and it's not going to get better if I stay here long enough for Lizzie to find me. I hurry on to my next class away from Lizzie and that angry girl.

Several more classes and at least three more incidences of almost running into Lizzie later, I finally make it to the final seconds of my final class. My heart is pounding and my palms are sweating, but not because I'm afraid of what comes next, but because I'm excited. Who knows where this new opportunity will lead me. Maybe it'll be good to get some time away from Lizzie. And when our teacher finally let's us go for the day, I quickly pack up my things and speed out of the doorway. Unfortunately, my rush out the door causes me to collide with someone for the second time today, but it doesn't matter. I'm out of here. I give the person a quick sorry as I head towards the library. And right as I'm heading to the door to be on-time for my meeting with the debate club, I see my worst nightmare in my line of sight.

"Surprised to see me here Josie?" Lizzie stood there with a look of discontent on her face that morphed into a smirk the minute she laid eyes on me.

"How did you even find me?" I shout in annoyance. After avoiding Lizzie all day like the super stealth I am, I would've thought that I could have avoided her until at least after dinner. But here she was with that stupid smirk on her face.

"I found this in our room while I was waiting for you to come back to our room like you always do during free periods," Lizzie says as she hands me the debate flyer I picked up earlier during the week.  _ Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! _ Of course, I left the only piece of information Lizzie could use to find me on my bulletin board of things to do today. Cursed my organized tendencies! "Now let's talk." She pulls me towards the nearest corner to have a talk. And by a talk I mean  _ the talk _ . The one where she says, what is everyone going to think that  _ my _ twin sister has -- glasses, blue hair, the nerve to wear striped bottoms, and of course this time around, joined the debate team. I love Lizzie, but sometimes I wish we weren't related. Sometimes I think about what it would feel like if I didn't have to live under her rules. And sometimes I wish that I had been absorbed in the womb so I wouldn't be living this hellish life. But then I feel guilty and know that Lizzie has no control over her urge to be a control freak. And then I end up giving Lizzie exactly what she wants, which is for me to quit the debate team. But maybe not this time? Maybe she'll actually listen to her therapist for once and doing something she wants to do because it's fun.

After hearing Lizzie list off reasons after reasons why joining the debate team is a bad idea, I grab her shoulders, look her straight in the eyes and say "Lizzie, I love you so much. But can't just this once I just do something for me without you being attached to it."

"But we're both attached to each other Josie. We're twins remember. We share a last name."

"Yes, we share a last name, but we don't share a body, or a face, or a mind. For once in my life, I want to do something just for me with no you attached. Is it okay if I just try this for a little while?" I hope and pray with all my might that Lizzie just lets me do this one thing. It's just one thing. What harm could be one thing?

And finally, Lizzie relents. She makes me promise that I owe her favor, and I promise because I'm an idiot and also because I'm blinded by the fact that finally for once, I'll be able to do something for myself. So I give Lizzie the biggest hug and then I skip towards the library with glee. And even though I didn't know what this new adventure would bring, I could only really hope for the best because for once, I was going to do something for me.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello. My account has arisen from the dead for posie. I'm so obsessed with this ship, so I thought I'd create a little fanfic for this ship while my obsession lasts. I'm not sure how many chapters this will be, but I do have a plan in mind, so don't worry about this becoming an incomplete work. I'll probably update at least once a week, depending how much work from my job I have to do. I hope you're having a wonderful day, and I'll see you in the next chapter!
> 
> Follow me on Twitter @itsjourdann for updates on the fic and other things. I might post sneak peeks there are graphics that I plan on using in the fics there for fun!


	2. Let's Start Debatin'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Josie meets Penelope, but Penelope isn't happy to meet her.

I enter into the library through the back quietly, trying not to disturb the debate coach who's speaking in the front of the room. Unfortunately, I’m unsuccessful.

"You're late, Miss Josie Saltzman," a man in a brown sweater vest with intimidating brown eyes calls out to me. _Shit_. "It's our first meeting, so I'll accept it, but the next time you're late there will be consequences. Now, take a seat up here in the front, right next to Penelope."

I begrudgingly trudge my feet up to the front of the class right next to someone who looked familiar, but I couldn't place where I'd seen her before.

"Now as I was saying before Miss Saltzman interrupted, my name is Dorian, and I will be your debate coach for the entire school year. I've coached Salvatore Prep for 4 years now, and we've never lost a competition. Unfortunately, last year we lost one of the greats, Becca Johnson, to Harvard University, so this year we have a lot of making up to do." _Well that isn't intimidating at all! No pressure, we just all have to live up to one of the greats._ "Since we have a lot of new members here this year, it's probably best that I quickly explain what kind of debate we'll be preparing for at Salvatore Prep. We will be participating in Team Policy debates which means that we'll need to split the team up into teams of two. Luckily for me, you all are already in groups of two, so the person you're sitting next to will be your partner for the rest of the year."

"You've got to be kidding me!" the girl next to me mumbles underneath her breath.

"Ahem!" Dorian clears his throat and stares at the girl sitting next to me. "Do you have something to say Penelope?"

"No, Coach Dorian," she responds with a fake plastic smile on her face.

"Great! Now I want each of you to turn to your partner and introduce yourself by giving your name, favorite movie, and a story about something exciting you did over the summer. Then when we reconvene, each person will present what they learned about their partner to the class. You have 10 minutes to talk; 5 minutes for each partner."

I turn to my new partner with a smile on my face and am met with a scowl. "Hi! I'm Josie!" I stick out my hand and hope that whatever problem she has with me could be resolved by a smile.

"Oh, I _know who you are_." I pull back my hand as she doesn't take the nice gesture that I'm offering. "I'm Penelope, but you probably don't even know that do you? Of course you don't! Even though we've been going to the same school for the past two years. Anyways, you don't have to tell me what you did over summer break. Let me guess, did you go shopping? Or did you get a tan by the pool? Either way I'm not interested in knowing."

Okay this girl clearly has a problem with me, and I'm not even sure why. "Look, Penelope. I can clearly see that you have a problem with me, but I'm not even sure why so can we just start over?" I plead.

"Fine. For the sake of this club, we can start over, but I don't even see the point in bothering with you anyways. It's not like you're gonna stay in this club in the first place. Two weeks from now, I'll be looking for a new partner while you're off with your stupid twin sister doing whatever the hell people with too much money to spend and too much time on their hands do."

I roll my eyes at her comment. "You know the picture you have of me in your head is completely inaccurate." She acts like she knows so much about me when we've barely even known each other for two minutes. And I'm very committed to this team despite the intimidating coach and now my new intimidating partner who is just blankly staring right at me. "What now?" I throw up my hands in frustration.

"I'm just waiting for you to prove me wrong." She smirks in pride as if she's already won this argument. "Come on now. We don't have a lot of time."

"5 MINUTES!" Dorian shouts from his position behind his desk.

I quickly try to think of something exciting to say that I did this summer. Unfortunately, Penelope was right. I had only really spent the time shopping with Lizzie or tanning by the pool with Lizzie, not that I necessarily enjoyed it. And even though I did do some light reading on days when I could be left alone with myself that wasn't that interesting of a story. So I gave in and told Penelope exactly what she wanted to hear along with the fact that my favorite movie was 13 Going on 30.

"You're so predictable, Saltzman." Penelope chuckled and then went on to tell me about her summer and how it consisted of working at her mom's movie theatre, which made it impossible to say what her favorite movie was because she had seen so many of the same movies over and over throughout the summer that she was sick and tired of movies.

After everyone in the class went around and talked about each of their partners, Dorian started to explain the rules of debate, so I grabbed my pencil case and notebook from my backpack and began to furiously take notes.

"In team policy debate, the resolution for the debate usually centers around a U.S. policy decision. For example, the United States federal government should substantially increase its transportation infrastructure investment in the United States. If you and your partner are on the affirmative side of the debate, then it is your goal to use as much evidence as possible to argue that your plan is a good idea. If you and your partner are on the negative side of the debate, then it is your goal to use as much evidence as possible to argue that the affirmative plan wouldn't work via two strategies: on case and off case. If you choose the on case strategy, then the negative will respond directly to the affirmative cases to prove that their cases are false or misleading. If you choose the off case strategy, then the negative could show a disadvantage of the plan or a competing better plan."

Coach Dorian then proceeded to pass out binders the size of my head to the club. There were empty sleeves in them that looked like they were meant to hold very rare Pokemon trading cards. "These are the binders you'll be using throughout the year to collect evidence or cards on different debate topics. You should expect to go through one or two of these by the end of the year."

Dorian continued to talk about the structure of the debate and the pros and cons of being on the affirmative and negative side. He also explained to us the importance of teamwork and organization in this type of debate. Before I knew it, the hour was up and it was time for debate club to be over.

"For your homework today, I'd like each of you to get to know your partners as you'll be working with them for the rest of the year. Each team needs to complete at least one bonding activity with their partner and must also fill out this questionnaire I'm passing out to each team. Additionally, I want each individual to have at least 5 pages of cards filled up in their binders by the time I see you next week."

As I'm packing up my things to leave the library, I see Penelope rush out of the room before I can get the chance to talk to her about what bonding activity we should do. She must really hate that I'm her partner. 

* * *

I trudge all the way to my room and let out a big sigh of relief once I reach the foot of my bed. My bag makes a loud thud as it drops to the bottom of my feet, and I flop onto my bed as my brain is flooded with thoughts about the debate team and Penelope. _Well, she can't avoid me forever. We do live in the same boarding school after all. And we're going to be partners for the rest of the year no matter how much the both of us despise it. And can you believe the things she said about me earlier about how I was going to quit the debate team! Like sure, it's going to be a lot more work then I had thought, but that doesn't mean I'm going to quit right away. What gives her the right to say those things about me when I've been nothing but nice to her the entire time I've known her._

I close my eyes and try to meditate my problems away. Unfortunately, it doesn't work because Lizzie comes barging into the room a minute later.

"You will NOT believe what just happened to me in the past hour. So I'm leaving the library after confronting you about the debate team and I run into Rafael, you know the new boy at school I've been talking to you about. He has like the cutest eyes and is apparently trying out for the soccer team. How cool is that! Anyways I ran into him and... Josie are you even listening to me?!" I, of course, was not listening to Lizzie. I was too busy thinking how I wished this conversation was over so I could go back to relaxing. I look up at Lizzie who's sitting at the vanity near my bed and lie through my teeth, "Of course I was listening Lizzie. Continue with what you were saying." Lizzie happily continues on with her epic romance story between her and Rafael. She goes on and on about how cute he is and how she's concerned that MG might get jealous of their budding romance.

And then for a second, there's a comfortable silence between us, and I think Lizzie is finally going to leave me alone to be in peace. If only I was so lucky. "So enough about me, how was your first debate team meeting today? Was it _everything you dreamed of_?" Lizzie raised her eyebrows and moved closer to listen to my every word.

_Was it everything I dreamed of?_ That's a great question Lizzie. If I'm being honest, no, it wasn't everything I dreamed of. It turns out it's going to be a lot of work. And normally, I don’t mind being challenged and putting in a little extra elbow grease in order to get something I was passionate about done. But it doesn't help that the teacher seems like a hard-ass and I've been paired with Penelope, a person who hates me for no good reason that I'm going to have to deal with all year. But am I going to tell Lizzie that? Of course not! Because then she'll beg me to quit and go to the mall with her instead.

"It was everything I dreamed of and more," I lie. Lizzie pouts and moves to her side of the room. She starts to shuffle through her closet and throws clothing items haphazardly on the bed. "What are you doing?" I moan from the safety of my bed and start to get up to try and examine what damage I'll have to clean up later today.

"What do you mean what am I doing silly? I'm creating the perfect outfit for later tonight." _Later tonight? What the heck is later tonight?_ "Of course you don't remember that Hope is throwing a party today. You never remember anything. Good thing I'm here to remind you of our social duties, right!"

Ugh. I flop back down onto my bed and close my eyes tight in hopes that this is a nightmare that will soon be over. I hate going to parties which is why they're never in my planner. But of course, Lizzie always wants to go to them and usually I can convince her she can have more fun without me.

"And don't say you can't come because you have a headache or some other lame excuse. You still owe me a favor."

_Fuck_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to put out there that I've never done serious debate in high school, so all of the information I use in this fic is based off of what I've found online via my own research. If anything is inaccurate, feel free to let me know because I barely know anything about this topic. 
> 
> If you want to suggest ideas or talk to me, I'm on twitter as @itsjourdann

**Author's Note:**

> Hello. My account has arisen from the dead for posie. I'm so obsessed with this ship, so I thought I'd create a little fanfic for this ship while my obsession lasts. I'm not sure how many chapters this will be, but I do have a plan in mind, so don't worry about this becoming an incomplete work. I'll probably update at least once a week, depending how much work from my job I have to do. I hope you're having a wonderful day, and I'll see you in the next chapter!
> 
> Follow me on Twitter @itsjourdann for updates on the fic and other things. I might post sneak peeks there are graphics that I plan on using in the fics there for fun!


End file.
